Adrian Chiles and Dan Walker are in but Shelagh Fogarty and Victoria
Derbyshire are out - along with Richard Bacon - in changes that push female
presenters down the pecking order

Two of the BBC’s most high-profile female presenters have been replaced by men, in a move which is likely to reopen the debate about the number of women in senior broadcasting roles.

Radio 5 Live’s Victoria Derbyshire, 45, and Shelagh Fogarty, 48, are leaving their radio shows months after the plea from Lord Hall of Birkenhead, the BBC director-general, that the corporation increase the number of women in senior roles on the airwaves.

Fogarty and Derbyshire are leaving of their own accord, along with fellow 5 Live presenter Richard Bacon, 38.

Their departure offered the perfect opportunity for BBC bosses to fulfil Lord Hall’s stated aim of increasing the number of women on air.

Yet it was announced that Adrian Chiles, 47, currently hosting ITV’s World Cup coverage, and Dan Walker, 37, presenter of Football Focus on BBC One, will lead the daytime line-up.

Chiles will present a 10am-1pm show, 5 Live Daily, which the BBC said would be a “hard-hitting” news programme.

He will work Mondays and Tuesdays, handing over to Peter Allen, who presents the station’s Drive programme, for the remainder of the week in order to combine the job with his ITV football duties.

Walker will host a 1pm-4pm daily show called Afternoon Edition. He will be joined by Sarah Brett, a presenter from BBC Northern Ireland, who got second billing in the BBC’s announcement.

The new roles for Chiles and Walker, and a new drive-time slot for the former Sunday Sport editor Tony Livesey, could draw criticism that the station is moving in a more “blokey” direction. Only one woman — Eleanor Oldroyd, who has been given an hour-long Friday afternoon slot — now hosts her own programme.

Georgie Thompson, the former Sky Sports presenter, has been hired to appear on the Saturday morning sports comedy show Fighting Talk.

Fogarty was reluctant to criticise the station, saying she had “loved” her time at 5 Live.

But she said the BBC’s failure to appoint more women to host their own shows was a missed opportunity, particularly as Lord Hall has made the nurturing of female talent one of his priorities.

“There is a disconnect between that happening and losing two solo women presenters all at the same time,” Fogarty said. “Of course it’s not a good thing if two female voices who are deeply connected to the heart and soul of the station go.”

The three departing presenters all declined to make a permanent move to Salford when the station relocated there. It was reported last night that new presenters have been “told in no uncertain terms that commuting is out of the question”.

Fogarty said working in Salford was one of the main reasons for deciding to leave, although she did “give it a go” by living in Manchester for a while.

The changes will place in the autumn. Jonathan Wall, the station’s controller, said: “This autumn feels the right time to refresh parts of our schedule. Victoria, Shelagh and Richard have all played such key roles delivering fantastic live radio and I wish them every success with their future projects.”